It also isn't clear if it means "travelling to see relatives" in which case I'm staying in town, or "travelling to pre/post xmas sales" in which case I'm going about 75 miles.

If I had my way I'd go about 10,000km / 6000 miles to Japan just to avoid all this crap. They still have a day called Christmas (or "kurisumasu" as they would say) but it isn't a public holiday and most importantly isn't accompanied by really, really god-awful music blaring out of every available speaker in everywhere you go. Plus their new year sales are epic.

Agreed I find very British centric, which is strange seeing that this is a US site. We didn't find out what we were actually doing for the holidays until last Saturday, 250mi was the minimum I was going to have to travel; 585 was another option, but I found out I'm going 1400mi.

That's nothing, people living in La Tuque, Quebec [wikipedia.org] can travel over 100 miles and still be in the same city. It measure over 10000 square miles. So even if it was square, 100 miles would only get you from one end to the other. But it's a rectangle, so it's probably around 150 miles across, but I didn't bother to measure the distance across, and I couldn't find it in the Wikipedia article.

The city has an area of 36 square kilometres (14 sq mi) and had a population of 93,625 people at the 2011 Census.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Melbourne [wikipedia.org]Of course, using this standard we get London [wikipedia.org] being rather small. I thought we could do a similar thing with Tokyo [wikipedia.org], but apparently I'm a few (~69) years out of date. Oh look, Tokyo is fucking huge (not even counting the broader metropolitan area, such as the cities in Chiba that are part of the contiguous urban area).

The City of Melbourne is the name of the suburb which forms the CBD. It's a bit like saying New York = Manhattan.

The Greater Melbourne Metropolitan Region is what most Australian's would think of when you asked how big Melbourne is. So, where I live is approximately 30kms from the GPO (General Post Office, the nominal 'centre' of the CBD). I work in the CBD, so commute 30kms daily each way. The geographic centre of Greater Melbourne is about 20-30kms on the opposite side of the CBD from where I live.

Yeah, just about 2000 each way, so just under 4000km for me. Never drove for the reason you cited. Always fly. Have some horrific stories just the same with flights, like a 32h delay one year where I was stuck at Person Airport. Not fun either.

I agree with your point that the scale on the poll is pretty bogus as it amounts to 3 options staying at home, stating in the same metropolitan area, and travelling to another city. The differentiation seems pretty useless and the failure to distinguish between staying in the country or continent and travelling to the other side of the world is disappointing.

But to be fair, here are some examples on the east coast of the USA of cities that fall within the range. These numbers are the first result for directions on Google Maps, so the cities may be a bit closer if you consider actual distance instead of shortest driving directions:

After looking at the replies so far to the poll, I think we need a poll like the following:

My preferred way to respond to slashdot polls is to:
a) Flaunt my superior intellect by finding some insignificant inconsistency in the poll that is only apparent to high functioning autistics such as myself
b) Securely fasten my tin foil hat, then deride the slashdot editors for given in to "the man" and collecting marketing data from the "sheeple"
c) Have my voice heard as a disenfranchised victim/minority who slashdot has completely ignored by not including as a poll option
d) Go with the CowboyNeal option
e) All of the Above

Note: "Answer the poll like a rational adult" purposefully left out due to option C.

The same town = same suburbLess than 10 miles = adjacent suburb or at at most, the near edge one suburb over10-20 miles = non-adjacent suburb but within the same general area20-50 miles= different section of the same metro area (i.e. San Jose to San Francisco)50-100 miles= Opposite ends of the metro area or another metro area so close the boundary between the two is not entirely clear. (San Francisco to Sacramento)Over 100 miles= Actually leaving town

Options not listed:

100-200 miles= driving and likely a day trip200-400 miles= probably driving but not a day tripOver 400 miles= Either an airplane or a multiple days in transit

In June we drove 1100 miles (Pikes Peak to Chicago) in 16 hours. I think we stopped three times. This Christmas we're only going 711 miles (each way). I predict < 10 hours drive time + stops, should be less than 11 hours total. Flying would take at least six, plus we'd have to rent a car, etc. etc. Gas will be cheaper than plane tickets as well.

Although I like flying, I hate the hassle that air travel has become, and prefer to drive if it's less than a day.

You too easily gloss over the socialist tax structure of the EU which supports the transit system. Yes it may have cost $13/$20 to ride the metro, but the real cost is much higher. Granted the real cost of driving isn't just your gas price. You also wouldn't be able to take as interesting of a trip on a train as easily, you are limited to train stops, must use taxis if your interest is away from the stop, and adhere to train schedule.

The trick is to take a number of brief naps instead of trying to sleep all at once. I frequently drive from Idaho to Southern California, it's 1000 miles and it takes me about 15 hours. I'll usually stop and take a nap part way through. Driving across the country takes me about 2 and 1/2 days, stopping to sleep every 6 hours or so. You can't drive much more than 8 hours without getting drowsy, so the best plan is to not even try. Just sleep when you're tired and drive when you're awake.

Anything less than 100 miles isn't really what I'd call "traveling." I've already traveled 3000 miles to my family reunion for christmas. I'm going to be traveling 1000 miles to visit my friends in Southern California for new-years.

Hanukkah is over. More than a week ago -- for the first candle -- our son and grandson came to dinner. Thus, the party came to us.

By the way, the next town is about a 10-minute walk (maybe a half mile) away, across the county line. While nearby Los Angeles covers over 400 square miles, my town (about 10 miles from the Los Angeles city limits) covers only 2600 acres (a little over 4 square miles), most of which is public park land.

I'm not celebrating the holidays, and I'm quite sure there are tons of people like me. Some for religious reasons (muslims, buddhists, orthodox christians (who celebrate in January) or atheists), some because they hate the commercialism, some because they don't have a family or whatever else.

For me, it's a mix of being an atheist so that kills the religious part of it, and hating the forced be-merry-today part (I'm merry when I feel like it, not because the calendar says so, thank you very much) and disliking the commercial gift-giving part (I give gifts when I want to, not because the calendar... you get it).

Now I don't mind anyone else celebrating. Before you post any bullshit, no I'm not trying to take your xmas away from you. Celebrate all you like, all I'm asking for is one thing: Respect that not everyone does the same. Don't get on my nerves with it, don't treat me like an alien just because I don't celebrate, don't try to convince me otherwise, just accept it and move on.

And that, strangely enough, seems to be a very hard thing to do for many people.

If an extremely hot girl caught you under a mistletoe would you let her kiss you? Yea? Hypocrite! You should just get all mad and tell her how much of an anti-merry badass you are. (just kidding, I know how you feel)

If I am forced to attend a party I don't like, at a place I don't want to be, with people who I think are dishonest and fake it, then yes I won't put on a lying smile and pretend to have the time of my life.

Since I don't travel by sea, I don't measure distances by miles (1 mile equals 1 arc second on earth).

The other option would of course be that I would be living in the 18th century, in which case I would travel by horse carriage, where distance would be measured in various funny units, among them also "miles" (totally unrelated to any scientific measurement and varying wildly from county to county). Well, I don't either. So I'm not using miles in any case.

What is christmas? In our church of the invisible pink unicorn, the holy scriptures do not mention anything like this christmas you mention.

Frankly, I've never thought of Christmas as a particularly religious holiday. To me, since growing up, it was about Santa Claus, Rudolph, the Grinch...giving presents, family, food, fun...etc.

Just the way I was raised, but I still have always loved Xmas and the good feelings it generally promotes.

Geez, just because you have issues with religion, doesn't mean you have to act and ass and deride a holiday. Hell, if nothing else...it is still an official US holiday, grounded in law. Why not enjoy the season?

But Santa Claus is a saint, thus his name Saint Nicolaus (or shortened to Santa Claus). Born as a greek Lykean as Nikolaos, he later became bishop in Myra. And when the Seljuks conquered Anatolia, italian merchants broke into the sarcophagus of St. Nicolaus, took the remainings and buried them into the new Church of St. Nicolaus in Bari.
This makes Santa Claus pretty religious to me.

well, it gives him a religious derivation, much as the holiday itself has a religious derivation

But not necessarily the one you think. Many of us celebrate Yule, not christmas.

And even for those who celebrate christmas, most of the mainstream christmas traditions are of heathen origin. Like the tree. And when it's celebrated (Saturnalia). And the presents. And the food. And the midnight observance. And the stockings. And the singing. And the "elves" (goblins, really). And....

It's probably the least christian of the holidays, but a necessity for the Catholic church to adapt to as they spread northward into lands with strong yule traditions. So they adapted by adopting.

Christmas was celebrated first in Rome as a replacement for Sol Invictus, and this in turn was a new fade in 270 AD of soldiers returning from wars against the Parthian Empire and later the Sassanides, where they came in contact with Zoroastrism and the Mithras cult.
The christmas tree is a late addition to the Christmas, appearing no earlier than around the 14th century in southern Germany.

Christmas is not mentioned in the Christian Bible, but Hannukah is. Hannukah is not mentioned in the Jewish TaNaK, but it is in the Christian New Testament (John 10:22-23).

Guess which one Christians don't keep? Guess which one they do?

Christians are keeping the pagan holy day (Sol Invictus, Saturnalia, winter solstice) contrary to what their scripture says (Jer 10). And if you tell them this, many already know, just don't care to stop keeping their traditions. Again violating their own "Master".

Mar 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Jeremiah 10 is not about Christmas trees, but about idols. A closer approximation would be totem poles. Mark 7:9 is about priorities: God's command vs manmade tradition. You need to look to Romans 14:5.

Are you for real? Obviously the Jewish holiday is not mentioned in the Old Testament, just as the Christian holiday is not mentioned in the New Testament. Does that mean Jews should not celebrate Hannukah? Obviously not.

Mark 7:9 doesn't refer to any holiday tradition - read Mark 7:1 to 7:8 to get some context there.

Jeremiah is in the Old Testament. Jesus said to forget about the Old Testament and focus exclusively on loving thy neighbour. Christians do not have to follow Jewish scripture. And Jeremiah doesn't say don't have a Christmas tree anyway; it just says it won't do you any good if you do.

For those of you who don't get his nick name, the poster is obviously Jehovah's witness. They're not considered to be very mainstream in their interpretation of the bible. They believe some odd things like Jesus not being human, but actually the archangel Micheal ( hence the posters name).

I can't really do a good job of explaining their faith so I won't, but a key component is that the Catholic church believes in Sacred tradition as well as Sacred scripture ( as the bible,as a collection of works from the Hebrew works and newer once concerning Christ, came from the tradition, not the other way around).

The "Last Supper" is a key feature of "Christianity" often called Communion or Eucharist, but it really is "Passover". And Indeed, Christians are told to keep the feast in 1 Cor 5:8. And indeed Jesus is called "our Passover" in the previous verse.

Additionally, they are not called "Jewish" holidays, but rather the feasts of YHVH (the LORD) (Lev 23), the supposed "Father" to Christians. In 1 Cor 10:1, Paul talks to Gentiles as if they were included in Israel, "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; "

Problem is, you've been sold a pig in a poke. Keep Christmas and esteem your holidays, even though Paul tells you not to esteem any day;)

Similarly Jesus is undocumented by the journalists of the time. Yeah he's in the bible and the gospels. In his gospel, Mark steals a lot of what he writes from writers of the period. Those same writers that don't mention Jesus at all. Yes there are references to Jesus, but they are all suspect church writings. Some references that could fill the gaps I'm talking about have been exposed as forgeries. Even biblical scholars agree with that. For someone who did so many interesting things in an age where people were writing about prophets, Jesus, surprisingly, goes unmentioned.

No conclusive evidence Caesar Augustus existed?? Money with his picture on it. Many, Many writers of his day recorded his existence. Buildings in Rome and the across the Roman empire have the fact of his reign carved into their walls. There is a tomb in Rome -- The Mausoleum of Augustus. And on and on and on. I mean really, he is mentioned in your bible: Luke 2:1 "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree". There is in fact conclusive evidence Caesar Augustus existed.
Jesus of Nazareth on the other hand is recorded only by ardent believers almost 100 years after his "death". I'm not saying he did or didn't exist, but trying to say that there is more evidence for Jesus than Augustus is only hurting you buy making you look uninformed or willfully ignorant.

No, it's not the old Roman sun god (which would be Jupiter), it's the Sol Invictus, which is a cult of east mediterran or persian heritage. The first emperor to celebrate something like Sol Invictus was Elagabal, whose parents came from Syria. In 274 AD Emperor Aurelian made Sol Invictus an official Roman cult, and it stayed one for the next 100 years. The last inscription mentioning Sol Invictus is from 374 AD.
Emperor Constantine instructed in 321 AD, that christians and non-christians should be united in observing the venerable day of the Sun. This is generally considered the first official celebration of Christmas in Rome.

Heretic!! We believe in the "Giant Invisible Elephant of Happiness" -- may his trunk be long and full of joy. But this Christmas is not a holiday of the true faith of Bimbo who could destroy your unicorn under his giant bulk. That is, he could, if your unicorn were more than just deluded imagination. We know the "Giant Invisible Elephant of Happiness is real, on the other hand, because the prophet Disney saw his coming and gave his joy to the world on film (the names have been changed to protect this post from a copyright lawsuit). We of the "Giant Invisible Elephant of Happiness" are a litigious bunch.

Why not? Are you one of those militant Christians that think religion is the only excuse for Christmas? You think that someone saying "Happy Holidays" is out to ruin your day?
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, it's all the same to me.

No, I'm a militant agnostic if anything. In the country where I live and in the language I speak, this repurposing of an old solstice festival is called "Christmas". If you want to come and live here, you can call it Christmas too. If you don't like it, feel free to leave.

No, I'm a militant agnostic if anything. In the country where I live and in the language I speak, this repurposing of an old solstice festival is called "Christmas". If you want to come and live here, you can call it Christmas too. If you don't like it, feel free to leave.

It's nice to know that I'm free to leave.
However, if I want to say Happy Holidays, and I don't want to leave, what are you going to do to me?